


Nightmare

by Falcon89



Category: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League (2017)
Genre: F/M, Post Batman Vs. Superman, pre-Justice League
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-08 07:08:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12859392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falcon89/pseuds/Falcon89
Summary: Bruce Wayne is on a hunt for soldiers to fight in a war that he knows nothing about. When Diana Prince points him to Annie Trevelyan but doesn't tell how she can help, he is both skeptical and intrigued.But soon things become choatic, someone snaps and Bruce is forced to put his search for warriors on hold so he can deal with the first problem and survive long enough to fight in the war.





	1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, I've just joined the sight so this is my first time posting here. This story may also be found on FF.Net under the name OceanSoul. Thank you for reading!  
**

 

* * *

 

Chapter One

             Annie stood resolutely at the top of the porch steps. Her golden retriever Jameson slumbered loudly on the porch swing behind her. She watched as Bruce Wayne pulled up the drive in a black SUV that matched both his luxurious lifestyle and his secretive nature.

Overhead tumultuous cries of angry ravens reflected the range of negative emotions that she desperately fought to keep below the surface. She was meeting with the businessman only as a favor to Diana. She owed the woman many of those and normally she was happy to comply. Today however, she couldn’t manage one good reason for granting this request. And yet, she had done it anyway.

            She knew why he was here. She made Diana give every detail of this insane plan to save the world. As it turned out…the plan was nearly nonexistent. ‘Find metahumans and defeat the danger’. Okay, that would make sense if they knew what was coming, not just that there was something coming. All of this made Bruce and Diana sound about as sane as Lex Luther.

Lex Luther. Fear ran its icy fingers down her spine as she fought against the ruthless memories of years long past. She was no coward but, she knew how to pick her battles. This would be one that she’d stay as far away from as she could. Luther was safe in his cell so, it wasn’t like she really had much motivation to fight in someone else’s war. Yeah, she’d definitely stay off the radar for this one. Instead, a vacation was in her near future. She hadn’t booked it yet. But tonight, she would. Fiji awaited her return.

Bruce stopped and parked his car midway up the drive. _Strange._ She thought but the reasons were quickly revealed with frightening clarity. Bruce left his car and headed towards one of the paddocks with the pace of a man on a mission. But this paddock wasn’t just any paddock. It was Nico’s paddock. He was stupid. No, just ignorant to the danger. At one-point Nicodemus had been the gentlest of stallions but now he was the deadliest of rage monsters.

Despite all the hell that was about to be rained down, Annie stood where she was and watched. She wasn’t even sure why.

She watched Bruce move slowly towards the fence. The thoroughbred raised his head and watched quietly with ears pricked forward in interest. Right then, Annie felt hope. Maybe he was turning a new leaf. Maybe her dear Nico had returned to her. Bullshit. But even as she thought it she was running. Stupidly, mindlessly running towards the heartbreak like a moth might fly into the fire. A very stupid moth and an equally idiotic human.

Before she could stop herself, she was at the fence. Nico wheeled around to face her. He instantly morphed back into his demonic self. The scars on his neck and shoulder danced madly above tensing muscle. His ears lay flat and his sclera nearly became the entirety of his eyes. She knew that he was going to charge the fence. But damn it all, she couldn’t find her legs. She couldn’t run. All she could do was stare at her dirty, ebony stallion as he launched into his furious attack.

She let out a cry and squeezed her eyes shut. Somewhere in her subconscious mind she knew that the fence was there. But fear told her that the fence wouldn’t hold up. The impact of the collision left her breathless. She would have thrown up her first prayer, ever, if she hadn’t heard the zap of the electric fence warning off her angry beast. It took her a moment, but she realized that she was still on her feet, crushed against a broad chest, her ragged breathing mixed with Bruce’s.

Her fear soaked mind had made her think that the collision had been worse than she had thought. Bruce had simply grabbed her to keep her safe. The very thought of being a pathetic damsel in distress so disgusted her that she shoved away from him so hard that she nearly knocked herself off balance.

Once she’d regained her balance, she shot a look over at Nico hoping to find him okay. She’d only just installed the damn fence. And, this had only been because her stable hands had threatened to quit on her. She’d never seen it in action though and it broke her heart to cause Nico more pain. She knew that she’d soon have to make a decision on him, but she couldn’t bear to think about it now.

Instead she focused on what she could do and turned her attention from the bucking, angry horse to Bruce.  “I didn’t need rescuing!” She shouted as she turned to face Bruce. “The paddock is lined on the inside with electric fencing.” Really? Could she sound any less intelligent? It had been said. She had to live with it now.

The right corner of Bruce’s mouth twitched upwards, but he quickly fought it back into a firm line. However, he couldn’t hide the amused twinkle from lighting his hazel eyes. “Hmmm…by the sound of your screams.... I’m sure you’d forgotten about it…. unless you were being dramatic.”

He was right. She had forgotten about the blasted fence. But she wasn’t going to admit that to him. Even though the word stung she was sure that Bruce knew that she wasn’t being dramatic either; he was just trying to get under her skin. So, she didn’t bother to argue that one either. She had reacted as she had, no use trying to will it away or acknowledge it. Not while he stood there smug, and sure as shit not when she knew what he was here for. She would move on and regain some of her dignity in the process. At least, she hoped that she could. This whole mess would leave her embarrassed for a long time. Before she could get down to the task of reminding him that they had business; his face took on a fiercely angry set that made her take an involuntary step back.

“What the hell are you doing to that horse?”

His question was a fair one as he only had the information in front of him. And yet, she felt herself both sickened and deeply offended by it. Nico was her baby. She’d never dream of hurting him intentionally. Again, he had no way of knowing that.

            She tried to keep her feelings from her response, but the wounds were too deep to hide. “Let’s not agitate him any further. I’ll explain inside.” It hadn’t been her intent to let him through the door. She had fully intended to not play the welcoming host and to make the meeting as brief and painless as possible. But now all she wanted was to be inside where she couldn’t see her suffering horse.

 

                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Annie had taken Bruce by surprise. From her photograph he had dismissed her as a frail, wraith of a woman; who couldn’t possibly offer anything to the job at hand. But as he stood watching her retreating back, he couldn’t help but think that the photo had been wrong. Her skin was fair but not translucent. Her eyes, an odd but fascinating mixture of blues, greens and copper tones, burned right through the soul of him. She was hardly weak. He could sense that, beneath her lanky frame hid athleticism untold. Or maybe, he was just desperate to figure her out. He hated not knowing things. But Diana was unwilling to give him the information he needed, and he wasn’t prepared to pass up any soul that could help fight in the impending war.

 _Still, those eyes. What is it about those eyes?_ He couldn’t explain it but within that uncanny mixture of color he could see a fire that he desperately wanted to see unleashed. That, was what bothered him most of all.

Bruce shook his head and smiled at himself. He was starting to think like a raving lunatic. Maybe Alfred was right. Maybe he needed some sleep. Years of sleep. Nothing he could do for that now.

He tossed one final look in the horse’s direction and pushed down unsettling memories before following Annie into the house.

The patio boards creaked ominously under his feet. The paint was horribly chipped on the railing as well as the siding of the house. The door too looked like it needed to be replaced, it most likely wouldn’t last the winter. But he could see why she had yet to fix the wrecked door. It fit the character of this house nicely. The house itself was ancient but it could probably tell stories if it could speak. Bruce had an appreciation for old homes, but it wasn’t going to stop him from using this old place to his advantage. Winning Annie over would be easy. A woman like her would appreciate the money to whip this place into shape.

“Beer?” Annie offered as they entered the kitchen from the foyer.

“Please.”

The kitchen with its crumbling fifties motif lifted his spirits still more. He had her in the bag. Diana must have seriously misunderstood his persuasive skills. Annie Trevelyan would be the easiest of his recruitments. 

He took the beer graciously and followed her into an even more chaotic den. All of the furniture sure shared the character of the house. He sat down in an overstuffed recliner across from the couch, which Annie had immediately occupied; lounging freely with her beer in hand.

A woman as put together and as beautiful as she didn’t belong in this place. But, as he watched her sink into the taupe sofa, he also sensed that there was no place that she would rather call home. This house was a wreck heading towards city mandated condemning if something wasn’t done quickly; but, Annie seemed happy to rule over this place. That troubled him slightly, but only slightly, this was still an easy win. He knew it. He’d be out of here with her in 20 or so minutes.

“So, what’s wrong with that horse?” The question wasn’t meant to prod her, or upset her in anyway. That’s the last thing he dreamed of doing during a business deal. But he was honestly curious. Unfortunately, upset her is exactly what he did.

He watched her odd blue eyes darken as she slowly sat up. She took a long pull from her beer before setting it down on the coffee table. She seemed to think better of this however because after a moment of hesitation she took it right back, clutching it tightly as if it were a life line, to where? he wasn’t sure. She no longer looked like the regal mistress of this home, but a wounded animal lost and searching for one.

For her benefit he set down his own beer, leaving it untouched on the coffee table and leaning forward to offer his fullest attention. He found it odd how sincerely he cared about the situation but what was troubling was that he wasn’t sure that it was the history of the horse that he cared for the most.

“Ah, Nicodemus, yeah.” She said as she fingered the rim of the bottle. She didn’t look at him. He got the feeling that, looking at him now would reveal the shame that was so heavily engraved in her features. He hadn’t seen it before now, but he was sure that it had been there the whole time. It only made him want to know more. His curiosity often led him down dangerous alleys, but he was sure that this time it would help her at little expense to himself.

“Ten years ago, tomorrow, his dam died after a particularly difficult labor. There was nothing we could do for her. But I was fresh out of vet school, so it was particularly devastating to me. That was during the time when I thought that I could save everyone. I was such a stupid kid.” She shook her head and laughed a little to herself. Bruce remained silent. “The mare’s owners wanted nothing to do with the foal after that. So, I took him and raised him myself and for 9 and a half years he was the kindest, most loving of stallions. He was designed for the track, but with me he was a star eventer—I’m mean I never intended us to go far and we never did but we were good.”

Bruce smiled and nodded. In his current state Nicodemus didn’t have much muscle mass and a grass belly to boot, but he did have the look of athleticism like his owner. He probably had little endurance but with time and work he could be brought back to snuff.

“He was sweet too. Sweeter than any stallion I’ve ever met, and he had patience to spare—especially for one little girl. Evelyn Craig—Evie.” She met his eyes than, hers shone with tears and her voice dropped just slightly as she spoke the girl’s name. An uncomfortable sense of dread came over him instantly and he fought to keep it from view by staying as still as possible but not stiff.

If Annie had noticed any of his discomfort she didn’t let on because after only a moment of pause to gather herself, she pressed on with her story. “Evie had talent riding and a way with horses that no other kid that I’ve taught had ever possessed. “She was hardly nine and I could already see an Olympic future for her. After some cajoling, I convinced her parents to let me enter her in the local show. It wasn’t anything major, just a jumping event. She was 3 years younger than the second youngest kid in the competition though. That was kind of a source of pride for everyone.”

For a moment the warmest smile shone through the darkened façade, but it was quickly wiped away with a sharp exhale and Bruce knew than that the source of the pain was about to be revealed. He kept his forward position, but took up his beer. He needed something to occupy his hands so that he didn’t commit the crime of taking her hands. He was sure that it wouldn’t go over well with her. In fact, he would bet his last dollar that any form of comfort would elicit nothing short of a bloody beating from her, so he checked himself hard and kept a respectful distance.

After a moment she gathered herself up. She sat as straight as she could, but she couldn’t seem to keep her shoulders from slouching. The weight of this burden must be difficult to shoulder. He knew a little something about heavy burdens, but he also had learned how to carry his. Eventually she would learn to do the same, he was sure.

“I thought she was ready for this competition and she _was_ skill wise. But she hardly had the maturity. I didn’t see it right away, but Evie desperately wanted to win. And that was my fault. I didn’t push hard enough. I never properly engrained in her mind that safety came before winning and that’s the most important lesson that any riding instructor can impart on their pupil.” Her hands shook than and she had to set the bottle back down on the table to hide that fact. For her sake, Bruce pretended not to notice. “She was the last to go. I thought she would place respectably and I was ready to congratulate her for a third or maybe… _maybe_ a second. But I couldn’t possibly see how they could safely make up the time they needed for a victory.

She saw what I wouldn’t have allowed though, and she went for it. Nico is as agile as they come but no horse could make a jump after such a sharp turn. Most horses would have refused. But, Nico was the kind of horse that trusted his rider and would try to jump the moon if it was asked of him. So, it was no surprise but all the horror in the world when Nico obeyed. Seconds later Evie was crushed beneath Nico. For her part she survived for four hours, but we all knew that she wouldn’t make it. The injuries were too severe there wasn’t an organ that wasn’t bleeding or bruised or a bone that wasn’t broken. That isn’t an exaggeration.”

It took downing the rest of her beer, getting another one and draining half of that one before she spoke again. Bruce held his respectful silence throughout. “Aside from a few minor lacerations Nico wasn’t injured. I’m fairly sure that, that information is what did in Mr. Craig. The night following the funeral, I woke up and saw the barn was lit. I was sure that I turned out the lights after doing a final check on the horses. But there was always a chance that I didn’t—or the live in stable hands were throwing another rager behind my back. Actually, I was sure that that’s what it was. So, I ran out there ready to rip the kids a new one maybe even fire a few of them. But a party is far from what I saw in the barn. I heard the squeals of the horses before I knew what was happening and that only spurred me on.

When I got inside Nico was in the aisle, the floor around him was flooded in red. Mr. Craig was standing above him with a butcher knife that was dripping with what seemed like an impossible amount of blood. Normally my veterinary senses would kick in and I would rush forward. But I just stood there, like a dumbass and stared for a full three seconds before I finally woke up to the situation, disable Mr. Craig, ordered the stable hands who had rushed in at the noise to get my kit and tended to Nico. But Nico had already lost consciousness before any of that. The last thing he saw as he lay there scared, confused and hurt, was me standing there like an idiot. He lost consciousness knowing that everyone he knew and trusted had let him down.”

“He couldn’t have remembered that.” Bruce butt in before he could stop himself. But he knew just as she would know that it was a lie. Horses were smart. Most animals remember the hands that beat them. Annie hadn’t beaten him, but she hadn’t immediately gone to the poor horse’s rescue. Not her fault of course. Anyone unfamiliar with how to handle panic would have hesitated too at the sight of a loved one being killed. He had as a kid.

Before he could take it back. Annie shook her head, anger replaced the anguish and for a moment he thought that she was going to throw the bottle at him. “Horses aren’t just dumb animals. They remember. They know. And they hold grudges.” She ground out furiously, casting him in a dark glare that gave him pause.  


After that brief hesitation and to placate the raging vet, he through his hands up in the air in surrender and nodded. “I’m sorry, Dr. Trevelyan. That was an extremely poor choice of words on my part.” He was careful to use her professional name, a show of respect and esteem that would hopefully ease her anger.

 She seemed to accept his apology as sincere because she relaxed into the sofa and fixed her blues on him. Once again, the anger was extinguished by sadness that threatened to touch him again. He wouldn’t let it. “I’ve halfway decided to euthanize him. I can’t reach him. I thought nobody could—but then there’s you. You are the first person he’s let near his fence. You wouldn’t be interested in giving him a home, would you?”

Despite his best defenses the hope in her voice inexplicably cut him. He wasn’t going to play games with himself though, he knew it was because he would have to take that hope and crush it. He hated doing that to good people.

He shook his head. “I don’t have time for a horse. I wouldn’t even know what to do with one.” Of course, the last bit was a lie. He just didn’t want to get into it.

As feared, Annie’s face fell as all the hope she had for saving her baby was taken from her as ruthlessly as if he had stabbed her in the chest and taken her life. He wanted to fix that, but he just didn’t know how without invoking her wrath.

Thankfully she gave him an out. She recollected herself for what seemed like the millionth time today, but this time she didn’t do as complete of a job. Her gaze had hardened, and her mouth twisted in an angry smile that he didn’t care to see again.

“That’s right you wouldn’t have time. You’re too busy chasing phantasms in a bat suit.”

His surprise dulled the sharpness of her words to him. Instead of being spurned he laughed heartily. “Diana told you about me,” he responded feeling as if he had been in some way betrayed, “but she couldn’t be bothered to give me a cookie crumb about you.”

“She couldn’t. I’m no cookie.”  
            “Yeah, you’re more like a piece of bad fruit.”

Regret took hold of Bruce a little bit too late. If he hadn’t been too caught up by Diana’s slight, he would have tempered his words a little better. He needed to make up ground. But by the look on Annie’s face there wasn’t a snow man’s chance in July that he’d repair the damage.

Annie’s expression went from sour, to oddly blank, before going back to the anger she couldn’t hold back. She tried to nonchalantly shrug but the anger and quite possibly a touch of hurt shone too brightly in her eyes for that to work the way she wanted.

“You’re right. I’m fucking rotten.” She said with an edge that he was sure was meant to slice deeper than the words actually were, but she wasn’t finished. Oh no, anger doesn’t burn that brightly for one quip. “Let me save you some more time. You’re here because there’s some perceived danger—information you got from a mad man. Personally, I think you and Diana are idiots for playing his game. The thing is, Diana is the only one whose participation surprises me. You on the other hand are as obsessed as he is—except for you it’s redemption and for Luthor it’s for power. He’s like Hannibal Lecter, he gets off on messing with people’s heads. The only difference is he probably doesn’t eat his victims. _Probably._ Either way I won’t be sucked into his game. Because, as obsessed as the two of you are, I’m going to end up killed. And I won’t have that. Sorry. Not sorry. Finish your beer and leave.”

Annie stood then and walked towards the kitchen. It was Bruce’s impression that she didn’t like yelling at people. He wouldn’t continue to overstay his welcome. He finished his beer took the bottle into the kitchen and dropped it in the recycling bin he had noticed earlier. He watched as Annie stared out the window. He didn’t need to follow her gaze to know that she was watching the stallion.

“I’ll take Nicodemus.” He didn’t know why he offered. He wanted to believe that it was because it might be the last line he had to rope her in with, but he was sure it wouldn’t be that easy.

She turned around, hands balled tightly into fists. “No.”

“I know you don’t want to euthanize him. And you did try to offer him to me earlier.”

“I changed my mind. I’m not sending him to a place where his suffering will be prolonged.”

“He doesn’t _hate_ me. I cou—“ he realized all too late the implications of his words. The toll they took on her was instantly devastating. Girls and their horses. No matter what you never _ever_ said that their bond didn’t exist. They were the ones to admit it and bring it up _always_. To break that rule would be to forfeit your life. He fought to string together the right set of words that would prevent another fight. Maybe just maybe he would accept a punch to the face and get out as soon as he could.

The rage that he saw building behind her suddenly and frighteningly stoic face never came though. Instead her lower lip jutted outwards and rage was washed out by unshed tears. She quickly turned to face the sink. “I’ll draw up the paperwork. You can pick him up tomorrow.” She said quietly as she continued to stare out the window.

Bruce couldn’t see it and there were no traces of it in her voice, but he knew that those unshed tears were now coming down in floods. He had beaten her down brutally without meaning to. He honestly felt bad for doing so and he’d make the remaining duration of his stay as painless as possible.

“Thank you, Dr. Trevelyan. I will see you in the morning.” He said before he hurried out the front door and to his car. He didn’t look at Nico. He’d have a good 9 years or more to that. He needed to get out of here before the failure sunk in on him. There was nothing worse than failure. Despite his best efforts, though, long before he shut the car door the stark realization had hit him. He failed to acquire Annie and instead he now had a horse so screwed up that he wasn’t even sure that he could fix the wayward animal. Another failure. Worst still he knew he wouldn’t take another crack at Annie. He’d leave her be. Some people were just left to the relative peace of their own misery. 

 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

 

            Annie had been blissfully tanning on the healing sands of Fiji when she was rudely thrust back into reality. The turquoise waters, the almost creamy texture of the sand dissipated rapidly as she sat up. But the heat remained. No. This wasn’t Fiji heat. She knew the pleasant warmth of the Fiji beach and this wasn’t it.

Sweat meandered down her back in sickening slow curves. She knew what this was but she couldn’t put the thought together. Somewhere in the corner of the room Jameson whined out his fear. She still didn’t understand but she moved to find him and when she did she wrapped her arms tightly around the golden retriever.

_Focus. Goddamn it_.

It unsettled her how out of tune her senses were. How far she was from the reality that she was living. It took another moment for her to realize that she must be drugged. But how? No. Not drugged. maybe still drunk from last night. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind was a memory of her throwing back a few more beers with the stable hands at the end of the day. It wasn’t just beer though. Someone had brought out the hard liquor. She distinctly remembered taking her first shot of absinthe. A mistake she was now sure of. They had been celebrating, but what? She couldn’t figure that out either. She banged the heel of her hand against her forehead in a weak attempt at recall. This only served to worsen her throbbing headache.

And then clarity came. Adrenaline brought her into focus and the headache disappeared, but the pain of this reality couldn’t be dulled. The room was thick with smoke. The warmth must be fire.

_Oh yes, I’m a regular, Einstein. Shit, do I ever have brains for days._ She thought sarcastically.

 She walked slowly towards her door. She didn’t dare turn on a lamp. As she approached the door, she realized with increasing panic that she didn’t need any light.

The orange pulsating glow around the door was all she needed. But she just stood there. The length of time it took her to act was a mystery to her but all the same unsettling. The room  had grown hotter and Jameson had grown eerily silent. She acted then but her movements felt to slow for her liking. Even in a drunken stupor she could still move quickly. Her initial thought, she realized right then, was correct. She had been drugged.

One of her stable hands wouldn’t live to see the next morning. But as slow as she was moving she probably wouldn’t live much longer anyway.

Shit.

Somewhere inside of her she found what she needed and rushed to her window. She wasn’t going to die like this. She’d seen too much and survived despite her knowledge, she wasn’t going to let a house fire be her end. Although, some of the greats were burned on a pyre. No. If she was going to be burned on a pyre she needed to be dead first.

“Don’t be stupid. I’m not a Viking.” She chuckled to herself as she realized she had spoken allowed. Not a good sign. Either the smoke was getting to her or the drugs were. Either way she needed to move. “Jameson!” She shouted. No response. No cold wet nose pushing against the back of her calf.

“Damn it!” She cursed as she left the window to find her dog. She found the poor soul under the bed. She didn’t have time to coax him out. She grabbed him by the collar and dragged him far enough that she could lift him. With his large body cradled against her chest she ducked under the windowsill and climbed onto the patio roof.

She took a moment to thank the man or woman who had thought to build a wraparound porch. Because of it they might survive this.

Outside a small crowd had gathered. Ten faces cast in an orange glow looked up at her in shock. There was nothing funny about this at all but she couldn’t help but laugh at the sight before her.  Somewhere in the distance she could hear the angry roar of a firetruck siren. At least they had been smart enough to call the fire department before they just decided to stand there like a bunch of mouth breathing idiots. These were her stable hands. The people she had gotten piss drunk with last night. One of these people or all of these people had plotted to drug her.

She knew she shouldn’t take chances. But help was coming and the fire had entered her room. Her back was starting to burn. She had no choice. She searched the faces and found the one she trusted the most. “Leandra, catch Jameson and you’ll get a raise!” She shouted.

The time beaten woman raced forward not driven by a raise but by loyalty and held out her arms. Annie lowered herself to her stomach. The roof underneath her felt oddly unstable but she had no other way to safely do this. With one hand on Jameson’s collar and the other arm used to guide her she slid with Jameson to the edge. Using her feet as anchors against the crumbling roof tile she grabbed the frightened golden retriever by the collar and slowly lowered him as far as he could go. Unfortunately, that meant hanging him for the briefest second and letting him plummet the remaining 4 feet into Leandra’s arms. The poor dog probably had his lungs full of smoke and ash. That brief moment of lost air couldn’t have done him any good. But he made it down and now it was her turn.

She turned herself around. The fire was starting to lick at the outside of her windows. She could see the glow of its immense bodies through the other windows. In no time those windows would be hotter than they could handle and they would burst. She needed to go now if she wanted to avoid understanding how it felt to be subjected to the old Chinese torture method of a thousand cuts.

_God. That’s terrible._ She thought as she slowly slid down the roof, only stopping to hang off the side. Even then she only stayed long enough to adjust herself for what would amount to a painful landing anyway. She didn’t expect anyone would catch her.

To her surprise, neither pain nor hard floor greeted her. A pair of arms encircled her body as she let go of the roof. As her feet touch the ground she turned, unsurprised to find Bruce had caught her. She hadn’t seen him among the faces a moment ago but she had little doubt that he would be there. Whether he wanted to admit it to himself or not he had a hero complex. Anyone with a semi-decent ability to read people would clearly see that in him.

As his eyes passed over her another alarming detail struck her, or rather, she was reminded of something. Despite the weathermen calling the autumn night unusually chilly, at bedtime her body had been drenched in a drunken heat so she had gone to bed in the nude. A fact that was blatantly visible to the 11 people on the lawn, and the arriving firefighters.

As if reading her thoughts Bruce shrugged out of his coat and wrapped it around her securely.

“Thanks.” She muttered. _Took you long enough._  A thought she dared not speak aloud. She wanted this all to pass quickly. __  
  
She slipped her arms through the sleeves before wrapping them around herself. Lordy, she was embarrassed but she knew that would soon pass. She knew it because her mind was slowly beginning to swim. She could feel her legs beginning to wobble beneath her as if she were on a boat in the middle of a winter sea. Damn who ever had done this to her. Damn him or her or them to the deepest pits of hell.   


Bruce must have reached out to steady her because she could vaguely feel the pressure of his hands on her shoulders. And then she was off her feet, not falling but being carefully cradled against something solid and secure. The smell of burning cedar was replaced by something pleasantly woodsy. The kind of woodsy that was alive. It reminded her of the dense old growth of pines on a chilly winter morning. She loved it. God, that had to be one of her favorite scents of all time. She must be high because it wasn’t winter and they were about a half a mile from the pine stand. Sometimes hallucinations could be so wonderful.  

Her eyes started to close, her body growing heavier and heavier. She was well on her way to either a smoke or drugged induced slumber. As welcome as that was, she knew that she couldn’t give in just yet. Someone was guilty and if that information wasn’t released, that someone would surely get away with it. Law enforcement in this town wasn’t the best. The only one she could count on was barely half a centimeter away.

Her eyes felt glued shut but after a few attempts she managed to open them. She found that her face was awkwardly buried in his neck. In a moment of pure embarrassment, she realized she had been sniffing his neck. If someone in the universe loved her they’d make him think it was the drugs. But she knew the truth. She’d never been able to resist a good scent no matter where it came from.

“Bruce.” She croaked out. Her mouth was awfully dry, her tongue felt awkward and swollen and she desperately wanted to stop talking because it felt as if she might lose whatever was left in her stomach if she continued to feel that swollen, dry thing raking against the roof of her mouth. But vomit or not she had to force this information out. “One of these ten drugged me last night.” She whispered as quietly as she could. But even that task was difficult without an ounce of saliva.   


His silence told her that he hadn’t heard her. And she slowly began to panic. She had no more energy left in her. She had used it all to get the message out to him the first time. The world was closing in around her quickly and she desperately fought to find what she didn’t have.

But all that panic had been unnecessary. As her eyes closed again, she felt Bruce’s warm breath in her ear. His whisper pierced through the darkness, keeping her from plunging any further for just a second longer. “I’ll take care of it.”

 

* * *

 

The chaos of the last few hours had finally settled. All that remained on the property was the charred remains of the house, Bruce, Jameson, some horses and most importantly the one who had unleashed the chaos. This demented soul had been easy to spot. In fact, before Bruce could even start to dig in; the perp who, was more creature than man, had admitted to what he had done. But nothing else. Charles Kane would say nothing more until Annie was there to hear it.

So, Bruce did the only sensible thing and tied him up and locked him in one of the stalls. He let his fist connect with Kane’s cheek. But that was because Kane had resisted. At least, that’s what he’d tell Annie. Kane wouldn’t argue with him. The man was a nut. Bruce wasn’t even sure that Kane understood what was going on around him. But he also had a feeling that this was a new condition. Annie wouldn’t hire someone so volatile let alone keep them around. His employment records spoke to that. He’d worked for Annie for five years as a veterinary assistant and stable hand. For twenty years before coming to Sugar Pine Ranch, Kane had worked for some big time trainer as an exercise rider and stable hand. By his own admission he had come to work for Annie because he wanted a quieter job for his aging body. That admission had come in one of Kane’s more lucid moments. A moment that had made Bruce question this whole situation, well, at least until Kane had gone right back into his schizophrenic ranting. 

Bruce was headed out to the trailer he had locked Nicodemus up in earlier, when he spotted Annie staring at the mess that used to be her home. She shouldn’t be here, but it didn’t surprise him all that much. 

He debated the intelligence of approaching her now in what had to be one of the most emotional moments of her life. In seconds he decided it was best to approach anyway. She shouldn’t even be out of the hospital yet, let alone staring at her ruined piece of tranquility. He wasn’t stupid. He could see what this place was meant to be. The land was already a haven from the realities of the world, and the house would have no doubt been the period at the end of the sentence.

That’s why he said nothing when he stood beside her. He just watched her take it all in. She was dressed now in navy scrubs, she held his coat against her chest as if she were holding on to a life saver. He wanted to tell her to put it back on but the way her eyes were fixed to the house, not seeing it as it was now but seeing it as it had been, he was sure he wouldn’t reach her. So as an icy breeze kicked up and licked at their cheeks he slowly took the coat from her arms and slipped it around her. Once he was sure that she wasn’t going to succumb to hypothermia he took a step back and resumed his vigil for her return to the present.

It had taken her twenty minutes and in that time several emotions had flitted across her face. But by the time she turned away from the house he couldn’t read her at all. Their eyes met for a few long moments. Her mouth remained slack and her eyes flat. He’d seen that look before. She was desperate to avoid losing face in front of him. This wasn’t good for her. It would kill her if she didn’t let it out. 

So, he gave her an outlet. A reason to feel something. “Charles Kane says that he slipped Ketamine into your last drink last night.” He still found that hard to believe. The amount of Ketamine that Kane said he had given her should have killed her. That much would have killed an elephant. But he wasn’t exactly reliable in his present state. Which is why Bruce didn’t tell her the amount. It was irrelevant anyway. In any case, as Bruce examined her, he could see no signs of the drug, which was odd. Maybe Kane had been lying about Ketamine.

The shock in her eyes and the loss of color in her skin, confirmed to him that Annie had no idea of Kane’s dark side. She shook her head violently and paced uneasily, her jaw muscles working alongside her mind to process this information.

“You’re wrong.” She decided with all the certainty of someone who thought she knew her employees. Apparently, she hadn’t learned that you couldn’t take people at face value. Something inside him told him that assessment of her wasn’t true either.

“One way to find out.”

He turned from her and led the way to the barn. He could hear her steps by the crunch the gravel made under her slippers. As they approached the barn the sounds became fainter as she slowed down. He didn’t fault her for that. Every human being’s worse nightmare is learning that someone they’ve trusted for years is a monster. So, he slowed down too, giving her a chance to catch up and not making her think for one moment that she was weak. She sure as hell wasn’t. He’d never met anyone who could hold up as well as she was now. If their roles had been reversed (and it had been at some point in his life) he would have torn every malleable surface to shreds by now. But there she was walking towards a truth that would probably nearly break her and though her steps slowed she never once stopped walking. He admired her for that. Yesterday he had suspected this courage in her. Now he had the pleasure of seeing it for himself.

He stopped at the barn door and turned to her. She met his eyes defiantly, as if he were going to try and coddle her. That was the furthest thing from his mind. “I’m warning you now. He’s a mess.” Mess. That was putting it lightly but he didn’t know how else to put it and he didn’t want to call him a raving lunatic. He had a feeling that would make it worse for her. She had to see it for herself.

“Let’s see.” She said with an ounce of yesterday’s starkness.

“Okay.”

* * *

 

An acrid odor seeped out of the open barn door. It had the distinction of excrement but it wasn’t equine. It didn’t belong to anything that lived in a barn and never before had Annie’s barn ever smelled this way. Her stable hands were masters at their work. She doubted that there was a better team out there.

It took every ounce of strength she had, which was everything she had gained back, not to gag. But eventually she lost to her body’s reflex as they walked deeper into the barn. Bruce had lost it long before her and moved into open stalls to open the outer stall doors and further ventilate the barn. There was a bit of pride in that for her. She had outlasted the stoic bat. She’d have smiled if she hadn’t been so disgusted by the awful pungency of the air.

“What is that?” Annie finally asked, feeling instantly stupid for having done so. So, she amended. “This isn’t horse shit. I don’t even think the mule can work up a stink this bad.” She choked out. “We just cleaned out these stalls last night.”

“I don’t know. It didn’t smell like this when I locked up Kane and removed the horses.” He admitted and when Annie looked back at him as he exited one of the stalls she caught the most fleeting look of concern. She thought she knew why. Maybe Charles had released something in the air. She doubted it though. Bruce would have searched him. And this smell was waste. No. She shook her head. No way.

The feeling must have been mutual because suddenly they were both running, Bruce led with Annie so close at his heels that she rammed him when he came to a halt in front of one of the middle stalls. Bruce absorbed the impact of her body against his without flinch or sound. His eyes were glued to the locked stall.

Annie’s nostrils burned painfully. The smell originated here but that’s not what drew the loud gasp and the resultant round of dry heaves. Charles sat in the middle of the stall. He had somehow broke free of his binds and undressed himself, probably before he had taken a shit and rolled around in it. But even that explanation didn’t seem right. The sulfuric odor was too strong, nearly too lethal to be human. And then she realized why it had all been so familiar to her. Her bowels did a sick twist from fear, not disgust and she immediately set to unlock the stall.

Bruce wouldn’t allow it. Before she got the first latch undone his hand was firmly on her wrist and he was pulling her back. “He won’t hurt me. I need to get to him!” Annie screamed fighting hopelessly against the two-armed grasp that Bruce had taken her in. “You don’t understand!”

“I’ve seen it, Annie.” Charles rasped as he stared down at himself. Annie went cold at the words. All was lost now. There was no hope. She wanted to run. She didn’t want to have to watch this but she didn’t try to escape. She didn’t warn Bruce. He needed to see this even though she didn’t want him to.

“Charlie. Please.” She whispered in a vain attempt to bring him home.

“It’s so beautiful, Annie. All the possibilities…so many lovely, sweet possibilities. All you have to do is give in. That’s all you have to do. I did and look how wonderful my world is. Look at that ocean. Have you ever seen such an ocean?”

Annie braced herself against Bruce’s chest. She fought the urge to close her eyes. She could feel his arms slackening. He felt her take her shaking hand. He was starting to pull her back as if some instinct was taking hold of him. But he couldn’t possibly understand this instinct. It was far too ancient. Far too buried to be alive even in him. Maybe he was getting it from her. It was possible, but she didn’t have that kind of discipline. She had avoided it for too long.

“Wait, Bruce. I need you to see this.” She didn’t know why, but that ancient instinct told her that this was important. She could keep as many secrets as she wanted but this one needed to be revealed.

Charles woke up suddenly to the world. His eyes hardened and anger took hold of every inch of his features. “Why am I here? I’ve done everything!”

Annie took a deep, slow breath but it did little to help her fight her tears. Even if she tried to reach what little part of Charlie that was rooted in reality, he could no longer be brought back.

Charles giggled as elatedly as a child at Disneyland. “Is that all? Okay!”

“Oh, God.” Annie whispered unable to control the impulse. How many times had she witnessed this? How many more times would she have to?

“Annie! I’m going! I’m going back to Bora Bora! Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“Charlie, don’t do it. Don’t go. The horses need you, Charlie.” She knew the words would be in vain but she couldn’t ignore the instinct to save a friend no matter how many times she told herself that it was impossible now.

“The horses? They’re already there.” He chided as if her words had been foolish. Before Annie could think of a response that might block the inevitable just a little longer, Charles decided that the game was over.

Charles plunged his fingers into his abdomen as easily as if they were freshly sharpened knifes. He didn’t cry out or even wince. He just kept laughing jovially as if all the pain in the world couldn’t touch him. Annie watched the blood slowly seep from his wounds, within a second his innards slid out, riding on the flood of blood that was quickly coating the hay.

“What the fuck?” Bruce shouted. He let go of her and started to move towards the door.

Panic spurred Annie into action and she rushed to grab his wrist from the latch and drag him back. “It’s too late, Bruce. Don’t touch him or you’ll be next!” She screamed. The warning must have sunk in because he broke free from her hold and took up her wrist. Without word he dragged her outside with Charles’ choked laughter at their back. He died long before their exit but Annie couldn’t push the sound from her head. She doubted that she would ever stop hearing it.

“What was that, Annie?”

Straight to the punch. She expected as much from him but she was fully unprepared for this talk. “My brother.” She managed to get out although it had been shakier than she would have liked.

“Your brother?”

“David.”

“David.” Bruce repeated clearly displeased with her curt responses.

She sighed, looked away from Bruce only to have his hand close on her chin and force her to look back at him. She resented this treatment but she didn’t resent his intentions. He was only trying to get to the bottom of a very gruesome act.

“It’s a little trick he can do. He can take over someone. I can’t really explain it but he somehow turns them into,” she pointed to the barn, “…. _that.”_  

“He drives them insane,”

“I wouldn’t call that insane. That’s beyond insanity. I doubt a crazy person could do what we just watched.” Annie responded while battling to stay nonchalant. She wanted to cry but tears right now would be about as useless as an umbrella in a hurricane.

“Some sort of mind control? Charles was talking to someone before he eviscerated himself.”

“Eh, there’s no such thing as true mind control. I attribute David’s ‘talents’ as something akin to _Ophiocordyceps unilateralis._

Recognition flashed in the mixture of confusion and shock. “That’s the fungus that turns ants into mindless zombies, isn’t it?”

So, he was well versed in the nontechnological aspects of science. Either that or he was caught up in the new science fictional tales of which the ‘zombie fungus’ has been playing a starring role in lately.

“Not quite. Infected ants still have a mind. They just lose themselves. The zombie part is correct. The goal is spread the infection. But that’s not what Charles was used for. Charles was programmed to try and kill me. Maybe.” That was a bit she wasn’t yet convinced of. If David had intended to kill her she would be dead. “In reality, I think he was trying to leave a message.”

“I think you’re right. Charles wouldn’t say anything more until you got to the barn.”

“Ah, yeah. David was always a showboat. He wanted me to know.”

“Know what?”

“That he is still alive. And that he is probably going to try and make my life miserable for some time before he decides he’s done.”

“I’m afraid to ask, but I’m going to do it anyway—“

“When we were kids I escaped a bad situation but left him there to die. Not my fault. David has wanted to kill me since we could barely walk.” Annie could see Bruce mounting his next set of questions. “That’s all I can tell you for now. Please, Bruce. Diana doesn’t know much about my history and the last thing I’m going to do is tell you before I tell her.”

Maybe it was the desperation in her voice or he understood the fairness of her statement but he acquiesced. Though he relinquished that line of questioning, she could tell that he was filing it away for another time. This wasn’t over. Eventually she’d have to come clean about everything. She wasn’t surprised; however, she just didn’t want to have to give up that part of her life yet. Both Diana and Bruce have seen true darkness in the world. She didn’t want to add to it. No one wants to know that things are worse than they are. Of course in the very back of their minds, where ancient instincts lie, they know it to be true. But the more modern form of the human spirit is to expect that things can’t get any worse than the present bad.

“Are you gifted like him? Is this what Diana thought we could use?”

Annie ignored the disgust that he couldn’t quite hide. “Yes and no. He and I have similar traits. I’m not cursed the way he is. I complement him. You keep me within a mile of your person and you are safe from infection. Charles went into town two days ago. That’s probably how David got him.”

“But if I had touched Charles?”

“You would have been infected. That’s something I couldn’t have stopped.”

His curiosity was clearly awakened. She was a new enigma and from what she had heard Bruce had a near obsession with knowing things. But Annie knew that she could go no further. She had already given him too much. “Diana doesn’t know any of this. Please file this line of questioning next to the questions about my history. I’m not ready for this.”

Again Bruce complied although she could clearly see the resentment at being bridled. He was used to control but so was Annie. And quite frankly she thought she was better at it. Bruce was the forceful one. She gained her control through patience, small offerings and the fact that no one could ever seem to resist the look of pain in a woman’s eyes. It was wrong of her to use the last fact to her advantage. She knew it and accepted it. But sometimes she had to do things that she didn’t like to protect self and family.

“So, I guess this goes without saying but I’m coming with you.” Annie finally said after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah. It’s probably best that we stick together until David is dealt with.”

The unspoken deal was there but Annie wasn’t sure she could honor it. “I can’t promise that I can help you with your current problem.”

“My current problem is a psychopathic fungus wannabe.”

Annie smirked, relieved that he didn’t seem to be holding her to any promises. “ _That_ I can help you with.” But even as she said these words, she wasn’t sure that she could keep him safe from David.

Bruce returned her smile before growing serious and looking around. “Do you think he’s still here?”

“Not a chance. He left town the moment Charles was infected. This is how David plays his games.”

 “Right,” he breathed out, “so we’ll head back to Gotham City.”

“Not without Nico, Jameson and Badger. The rest can be boarded with a neighbor until I figure out what to do.”

“Taken care of.” He said offering her his first sincere smile since this whole mess started.

Annie shot a look at him. “What?”

“I called Diana and gave her the update.” He said this apologetically. But, she didn’t hold it against him. At least someone had told her. Amidst the chaos, she had forgotten to call Diana herself. “She warned me that you’d probably want to take them with you. I’m assuming Badger is the chestnut with the odd badger face markings.”

“Correct.”

“The rest are being boarded with Mr. and Mrs. Clayton and Mr. Edwards. They say you can settle the bill when you get back.”

She had undergone so much stress today and this gesture removed so much weight from her shoulders. She couldn’t thank him verbally as she might cry and that would be unforgivable. Instead, she reached out and squeezed his arm.

“We should probably take care of that body….” Bruce said hesitantly. “No one is going to miss him?”

Annie swallowed back the emotions that, that question caused. She’d miss him. He’d become like her father. But she didn’t throw that out there. She was sure that David was long gone but she wasn’t 100% sure. She didn’t want to risk that monster knowing that he had that over her. She’d be damned.

When she trusted herself to speak, she shook her head and glanced towards the barn. “He has no family. He’s a childless widow. His parents and only sibling have passed on. He kept to himself mostly. I’ll take care of the body. You should probably not touch it. I doubt he’s dangerous now…but let’s not push it. There’s an acidified lake from the old mining days about ten miles from here. I’ll dump him there. I’ll be back in an hour.” Remembering the risk and lack of indisputable assurance that David was no longer here, she quickly amended her plan. “Actually, scratch that. You’re coming with me. Let the horses out into the pasture, grab the truck and meet at the north facing door of the barn. We’d better go together. We’ll come back for your car and the horses and head to the airport then.”

Bruce nodded and hurried to the task. He was probably as anxious to get out of here as she was, which is probably the reason he showed little to no resentment to her taking the lead. That, or he accepted that this was her show for the moment.

Annie didn’t dare cast another look in the direction of where the ruined pieces of her world lay. And she knew that she would meet the task of disposing of Charlie’s body with the same amount of determination to put aside her past. Charles wasn’t Charles anymore anyway. But David was still David and she needed everything in her power to bring that merciless, beast to his knees. Bruce had seen David’s work first hand but he still had no idea of the hell that they were about to suffer through.

 


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

**A/N: Alright here we go. Here's chapter 3 for your consideration. Please note that reviews are very much appreciated ;). Thank you!**

* * *

 

            Waves of rich, natural auburn drifted down in gentle waves to rest on mahogany. Annie kept her eyes stolidly on her reflection in the mirror; only seeing her work and not the warm, salty tears that made their silent journey down her cheeks, her lips and her neck. It had only taken twenty-four hours, from the moment they had dumped the body, for granite sanity to dissolve under the caustic weight of the evil that she had to once again face.

            Nightmares had plagued her all night; eating away at the ramparts she had carefully set up, like termites might do to softwood. By morning she was done. She’d decided she needed to regain some control over her life before it crashed into the ground. By the time she had found a pair of scissors and shears her life had slipped into a sharp nose dive. Before she had approached the mirror and found the will to take back what was hers she had considered burying the sharp point of the scissors right into her own jugular. But what was left of the granite had held and she forced herself to take out her rage on the much loved, waist length, deep red hair that cascaded down her back in calm tropical waves.

            She cut until the sides were significantly butchered, and the top of her head resembled a vulture’s nest. She kept her eyes on that wretched nest. The wretched nest that was her doing and no one else’s. It wasn’t enough though, so she blindly grabbed for the shears. A hand, firm yet delicate stopped her just as her fingers brushed along the hard cover. Annie glanced in the mirror. Diana stood beside her. The unpracticed eye wouldn’t see the pain or the concern in Diana’s coffee colored eyes, but she saw it clearly.

            “I have to finish.” Annie whispered, not trusting herself to bring her voice to a higher volume. She was barely holding it together as it was. One wrong move, or word and she’d be curled up in fetal position, again, sobbing out her misery and cursing a God she wasn’t even sure she believed in.

            “I know, Little Wolf. But you can’t leave yourself like this.”  Diana whispered in the gentle motherly overtures that Annie hadn’t heard since she was a child. Things must be horribly wrong for Diana her surrogate mother, protector and teacher, to take on that tone with her again.

            Diana didn’t say anything more as she ran her fingers through the shoddy mess on Annie’s head, likely trying to figure out how to turn the ruin into a work of art. For her own sake Annie turned her eyes to the hair on the vanity.

Her throat went dry; and sharp pain, needled its way through her sternum, stabbing her right in the heart.  It took all of what she had left inside of her had left not to bawl like a senseless child. It had been her choice to get rid of the one thing about her that she loved. It had been a practical decision as well as one for the sake of control. She had been right to do it. She knew that, but, at the same time it burned her.

 

Seeming to have decided on the fate of what was left of Annie’s hair, Diana picked up the shears, snapped the right size guards in place and struck up a soft, hummed tune.

            Annie recognized the melody as an old lullaby Diana used to sing to her on stormy nights, and nights when she had woken up from nightmares. More tears threatened to spill over. But she wiped away what was there and instead chose to focus on the lullaby. Like clockwork the tune wove its way through her, attacking the pain in her chest, kneading at the tension in her muscles and freeing her soul. 

 

            So much was Annie’s relaxation that she had lost all sense of time. Maybe she had actually fallen into a light, lucid trance, maybe she had slept sitting up. Either way when Diana had proudly declared her work accomplished, it had only felt like seconds had past them by.

            For the first time since the following evening, Annie looked at herself in the mirror with the careful eye of an inspector looking for flaws in the framework. She found none. Her once choppy, vulture’s nest had turned into a soft, delicate but practical pixie. The sides were sheared neatly but the top was sharply but beautifully textured. It’s what she had subconsciously hoped to accomplish when she started this endeavor.

            “I look like a warrior.” Annie whispered dumbly as a way of approval. This was a warrior’s cut. It’s what the situation called for.

            “You’ve always been one.” Diana said as if to remind her. That meant a lot coming from the mouth of the ultimate warrior herself.

            “I still don’t know that I’m ready to do this.”

            “Face David?”

            “Bruce told you, did he?” Annie asked feeling like a kid with her hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar.

“I had to pry it out of him.”

Startled, Annie turned in her chair to look at Diana. “Tell me you didn’t use the lasso of unfair tactic on him.”

“Yes, I used the lasso of Hestia on him.” She responded as dismissively as if she had given him a piece of cake. “Look, don’t feel bad about not telling me about David. We all have our secrets. You don’t know everything about me and I never was arrogant enough to think that I knew everything about you.”

            Annie sighed, rubbed at her face for a moment and then stood without another glance at the mirror. She walked to the floor to ceiling window that served as one of the walls of her bedroom. Outside a fine mist was forming on the water, but she could still make out the birds fishing on the water and the watchful heads of turtles as they broke the surface to watch the birds and any other predator that might be looking for them.

            To the east a cloud of bats were returning to their roosts for a good day’s sleep. Without a good look Annie could only guess by the sheer size of the colony that they were Mexican Free Tailed bats. Family minded and spunky by nature, they were her favorite species of bat. For her twelfth birthday Diana had taken her to Austin, Texas to stand on the Congress Bridge to watch the biggest urban colony of bats fly off on their nightly hunt. She had sworn that she’d be a bat biologist then, and that’s what she had almost become but she had gotten into vet school and life took her down that path.

            As the small bats swooped and flipped molding the cloud into a twisting black mass, Annie could hear Diana cleaning up wordlessly behind her. She knew that she was waiting for her to vent and eventually she would. Right now, she just wanted to watch the bats do their good morning dance. She kept her mouth shut until the sun was well over the horizon and then she finally turned to commence her confession. 

 

            “He’s evil, Diana.” It was all she could get out before she realized just how terrified she really was. “He’s a monster—unlike anything you’ve ever seen.”

            “I highly doubt that, Annie.”

            Annie knew that she would say that. Diana had seen her fair share of monsters in her long lifetime. But Diana was wrong about this. She’d never seen anything like David because only man can create such evil.

            “Just trust me, Diana. Okay? Please I know what I’m talking about here.”

           

            A sharp knock sounded on the door frame. Both turned around to find Alfred standing there. Annie felt a surge of relief that she didn’t have to go on with this tale just yet. Not that Diana would force her, but she knew that she owed it to Diana to tell her just what they were in for. She certainly had to tell Bruce before all hell broke loose. But she couldn’t do that without telling Diana first.

            Alfred’s eyes lingered for a moment on Annie’s hair where just last night there had been an abundance of length. “Sorry to interrupt your reunion. Master Wayne wishes to speak with you in the den.” Alfred kept his tone professional yet somehow light, but Annie picked up the dangerous undertones beneath the plastic cover. There was bad news to be had and she wasn’t sure that she wanted any part of it.

            “I’ll stay here. I really should get some rest.” Annie said quickly as she desperately sought a way out of this. She couldn’t take the bad news. Surely this time it would be enough to burst the flood gates.

            Diana squeezed her arm. She was going and that was that. Annie winced and shook her head. “Never mind, I’ll join you. Got any scotch?”

            “I think an actual meal would be a more appropriate substance to fill your stomach with.” Alfred replied, his disapproval hardly hidden, but she also took note of the brief upturn of his mouth. So, the man could smile.

            “Lovely new haircut by the way.” He said genuinely before he left the room for them to follow.

            Once again Annie was reminded of her fears. As she followed Diana down the stairs she wanted to tell her that she wasn’t stable. That now, wasn’t the time for bad news. As she watched Bruce pace end to end of the foyer she knew that she for sure would not be able to take what was coming. For Bruce to not be waiting for them in the den it had to be serious news.

            He did not wait long to drop the bomb. He looked to Annie and Annie alone as he said the words that would shred the very last of her fortifications. She held her breath has his hazel eyes burned into her soul, searching for something but what? she couldn’t know.

            “Lex Luthor escaped Arkham Asylum sometime a few days ago.” His voice, though he seemed to try and keep it even, hid none of his irritation. It deserved to be displayed for all to feel. He should have been told. Had he been told she would have been warned too. Intensely hot anger burned away her panic. Lex Luthor the spawn of the maniac who started this all was free once again. And she now knew very well what the plan was or at least part of it anyway.

            Heat radiated from her heart outwards into every inch, nook and cranny of her body. She couldn’t stop it now. Her muscles were already beginning to work. Next would come the pain, the pain so terrible that it would drive her anger further. She couldn’t speak now, couldn’t shout, couldn’t give any indication of the terror that was coming.

            She felt herself drop to the stairs and roll down the last five. The tearing of flesh and fabric could be heard over her screams of agony. It had been too long since the last time this happened. She was out of practice. Her ability to escape the pain had gone years ago. She didn’t even know where she was going or what she was becoming. As her heart rate sped to keep up with the demands of her burning muscles, she felt death was swiftly approaching. God willing it would come for her. Ha! Right. She wasn’t that lucky. Death would never come for her. Not like this. She only hoped that Diana could deal with the consequences.

 

 

            Bruce watched the news of Luthor’s escape sink in to Annie’s psyche. He had told Diana this morning and she had told him not to say a word to Annie until she was with her. There was something he needed to see, Diana had told him. But she also hadn’t been sure that this news would be enough. They’d have to wait and see. Diana had texted him a few minutes ago to let him know that the news should in fact be shared now. Why? It was beyond him but judging by the small smile that touched Diana’s lips and the blank stare that entered Annie’s odd colored eyes, he knew that he would soon find out.

            He watched helplessly as Annie fell forward, rolling down the stairs. Instinct told him to go to her, but something else, something deeper than instinct held him fast to the place where he stood. There was a vibe of danger in the air; something he couldn’t quite name but, he could feel it there.

            Alfred came to stand beside him as they watched what could quite possibly be the weirdest shit he’d ever seen and, he’d seen a lot in his lifetime.

Annie’s screams tore away at the soul of him in ways he never thought possible and if it weren’t for the oddity of the sight before him or the cloying smells that had taken root in the air he would have run to her. Instead he waged a war against instinct and held his ground through the wails. He watched as fabric tore and skin melted away leaving only a mass of muscle that was quickly growing, stretching, forming into something vaguely familiar but not quite identifiable.

            A few seconds more past. Screams were silent. Skin began to materialize to sheathe the exposed muscle and soon after tawny fur began to sprout like grain. The form that used to be Annie, rose on four paws and focused its sharp glare right on him. Where Annie had fallen now stood a lioness.

            He watched where he stood unable to move despite the sounds of rapid movement on all his sides. He watched the lioness’s muscles tense as she dropped into a crouch. He knew he was about to be mauled but he couldn’t bring himself to move.

            He didn’t have to however. Diana did that for him. In mid leap, Diana wrapped her arms tightly around the lioness’s midsection and they both went careening into a book shelf. The force of the impact took the bookshelf to the ground, wood splintered and cracked as books went flying around the foyer.

            Bruce snapped out of his shock and rushed over for the assist. The assist however, was not needed as Diana quickly injected a silver colored fluid into the lioness’s side. This had done it. Just as quickly as this all started it was over. The lioness disappeared and in her place Annie returned, sliced up from the impact and starkly naked.

            Despite his shock he still had the decency to grab a coat from the foyer closet and drape it over her. But conserving her modesty also bought him the time he needed to decide on the swarm of emotions that swam within him. He was pissed. Not morph into a raging lioness pissed but he was angry. Diana had known that this would happen and didn’t think to warn him.

            It wasn’t even that. It was the fact that Diana knowingly allowed him to bring _that_ thing into his home. What was she thinking? How could Annie be of use to them if she couldn’t keep a leash on her emotions. And her brother? She had mentioned that she was somewhat like him. What that meant he had no damn clue and he wasn’t sure it was worth finding out.

            He rounded on Diana as she lifted the unconscious Annie into her arms. “There’s a cage in the basement. Lock her up.”

            Diana’s response was to roll her eyes. “She’s not a monster, Bruce. And if you ever insinuate such a thing in her presence, I will kill you.” She said slowly, threateningly. Diana had done a metamorphosis of her own. She had become a protective mother lioness that no one in their right mind would ever dare to fuck with.

            “Let me put her up in her room and I will explain everything that I know.”

            As Diana ascended the stairs Bruce was tempted to tell her to lock Annie’s door. But he knew that would be about as well received as a slap to the face so instead he stepped over the mess of books and broken glass and walked into the den. He grabbed the decanter of scotch and poured himself a glass.

            “Well that was interesting, wasn’t it?” Alfred said from the den entrance. His butler and friend looked uncharacteristically ruffled but appeared to be returning to form.

            “That’s one word for it, Alfred.” Bruce retorted dryly before taking a sip from his glass.

            “Give the woman a chance to explain things. She wouldn’t have put Annie through this if she didn’t think it was important.”

            Bruce only nodded and finished his glass. Alfred turned around and headed back to the foyer, probably to clean up the mess.

            He fully intended to let the Amazonian explain herself, but he had a feeling that, what she actually knew about Annie would leave a lot to be desired. Annie had said it herself; there is still a lot that Diana, the woman who raised her, didn’t know. But for the sake of peace he would trust Diana’s judgement when it came to Annie. He just hoped that he wasn’t making the stupidest mistake in a life time of stupid mistakes.

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

           

            Diana found Bruce in the den, brooding at the fireplace with scotch in one hand and the other hand bracing against the marble work along the hearth. A small fire was just starting to burn, its radiant orange light chasing away the cold, the way that only natural sources of warmth can do. She never understood heaters. Granted, they were practical, at times faster. But they couldn’t quite do the job of a well stoked hearth.

            She took a seat in one of the chairs beside the fireplace and waited with her hands crossed in her lap. She watched Bruce watch the fire come alive as he calculated his next move. She knew that she should speak but one of the greatest shows of strength is the ability to wait out another person. For the moment Bruce was a threat to one of the few remaining members of her family. She needed to instill her dominance and her absolute control over this situation. She would not have her daughter thrust into a cage like some animal as he had suggested earlier. So, she would wait; minutes, hours and days if need be. But one way or another she would not be the first to succumb.

            Bruce let out a low, long suffering sigh and turned to face her. His eyes were sharp with inquisition and his mouth formed the hard line, that was his usual setting when he wasn’t playing at the charismatic playboy. She could tell that it burned him to lose in this show of dominance, but, if he wanted his answers he would ask the questions. And she would answer him, so long as he asked the _right_ questions.

            He took the seat across from her and set his glass of scotch on the coffee table between them and cast her in a sardonic glare, that nearly made her giggle. Annie and Bruce were so much alike in inquisitive nature, stubbornness and now competitiveness. They both hated to lose.

            “Alright, enough. What is Annie Trevelyan?”

            “She’s human.” Diana answered coyly, fully aware that, that wasn’t the answer he wanted. Well, he hadn’t asked the right question.

            Bruce picked up his glass again and drained it before setting it back down. “You know what I mean,” he said, his annoyance becoming quite clear. Diana decided that she wouldn’t play any longer and just give up what she knew for Bruce’s sanity and Annie’s safety.

            “Pour yourself another drink. We’ll be sitting here a while.” She warned, and he did, but this time he brought her a glass as well. Diana sipped at it lightly as she waited for Bruce to regain his seat.

            When he was settled she set her glass down and leaned back comfortably in the chair. She never much cared for leather, but these seats were quite comfortable. She imagined that this was a tactic of his. He’d bring associates, investors and women to this room. With a fine scotch, a warm fire and a comfortable seat how could they not be charmed into giving in to the man? Luckily, she wasn’t so easily taken in. The information she would give tonight was being handed over by her own volition and nothing more.

            “Somewhere around twenty-five years ago I arrived in one of the small northernmost towns in Russia. The nights were long, and the spirits of the locals certainly showed it. They were a sad lot who spent most of their time soused to the nines in order to hide from the despair that the long nights caused them. But they were paranoid too, seeing ghosts where there were none…or so I thought. One evening I sat in the local tavern and listened to one such ghost story. A wraith would come from her home within the pines and steal a sheep or a goat. Her eyes were the color of fresh blood, she had a coat of grey fur and she was quite possibly the most vicious thing anyone had ever seen.” She couldn’t tamper the smile that broke across her face at the memory. Thinking on it now, it had been the most absurd thing.

            “I thought that they were talking about a wolf. A hungry wolf could easily prey on ill guarded livestock. But I didn’t dare tell them that. I was just starting to garner their respect and I couldn’t afford to lose it then. So, I decided that I would camp in the woods and find this poor wolf and put it out of its misery.

            But just after midnight when my trap was sprung, I found not a wolf or wraith but a waif. The grey coat was made up of pelts she had harvested or stolen somehow. She was pale, yes, and bald but very much alive and very much a child. She didn’t have red eyes though. I’m not sure where they got that idea.”

            “Fear will do that to the mind.” Bruce chimed in looking very much like the tosspots of that Russian town. “There are people who think I’m the moth man.” He laughed and lifted his glass tipping it towards her before taking a sip.

            Diana cracked a smile. The man dressed like a bat. Close enough. But she didn’t dare say as much if she wanted to continue to coax Bruce into a peaceable treaty.

“In any case. She didn’t run from me, but she didn’t speak to me at first either. It was days before she even told me that her name was LI-343. It was then that I knew that she was either a prisoner somewhere or an experiment. Experiment seemed more likely and I was correct in my deduction. She didn’t tell me what the experiment was or the nature of her involvement in it. I didn’t try too hard because I knew that it caused her pain. I did however promise to deliver her from Russia.

            The day before I made good on that promise we were attacked by a bear. Before I could even react the little, unassuming girl, morphed into a wolf and took on the bear. I didn’t need to ask then. I figured then that the nature of the experiments had been genomic recombination of some sort.”

 

            Diana closed her eyes and squeezed the bridge of her nose as she studied the vivid memories. “She was so afraid of me when she morphed back.” She said as she opened her eyes and fixed Bruce with a firm look. “She thought I would kill her because she was a monster. I promised her that she wasn’t a monster. And I knew it didn’t stick then, or even when we picked out her new name. It took years, Bruce, for her to see herself as anything but the monster created in a lab. Then, she was a little girl abused by men and women who were obsessed with power. And when I say abuse I don’t mean just abuse in the experiments they conducted. They committed other kinds of physical and psychological abuse against her. I won’t tell you about those. It took her years to tell me about any of it. So, she will tell you if she feels the need to. But what you need to know now is that little girl grew up to be a confident, self-sufficient woman who just happens to have a secret. She is not a monster and not a single human being on this planet will stick her in a cage again. Ever. I will slaughter slowly and painfully anyone who tries. Are we understood?”

            Bruce stared at her, his expression impassive for a long time. When he finally spoke his eyes softened, and Diana knew that he was beginning to come around. “Her temper will be tried heavily if she wants to go after David.” He reminded her, finally putting down the scotch and taking on a more businesslike posture. 

            “If she wants to go after David she will have to undergo training.”

            “Why hasn’t she already?”

            The accusation stung but she let it slide. She understood the question and her role in encouraging Annie. “She wanted to forget who she was. Annie was never quick to anger. And even if she is angry…she’s never been quick to turn to the primal side. That’s not her. It takes high amounts of stress and risk of harm to her and others for her to lose it the way she did in the den today. So, I allowed her to live a normal human life and she rarely morphed after that. I can only think of one occasion—an attack on her and her roommate that caused her to lose control.”

            “What happened?”

            “That’s not relevant.” For Annie’s sake that would be a story she would share if she was so inclined. “All you need to know is that I will work with her and she will be ready. By the time she is needed she’ll be less instinct and more herself when she does morph.”

            Bruce remained silent. Even though his expression remained flat, she could read subtle body language fluently. He wasn’t certain. “She’s one of the good ones, Bruce.” She whispered offering up all the concern that she felt for her adoptive daughter. “Maybe, one of the only few that we have left.”

            Bruce nodded. “I know. I trust your opinion of her. I’m sorry that I was so willing to treat her as an animal. My worry now is if it is at all worth it to put her through this. David is her brother, right?”

            “Right.”

            “Biologically?”

            “Annie wouldn’t call something that evil her brother unless he shared her blood and therefore gave her no choice.”

            Bruce acknowledged this with a nod before he walked over to the decanter to pour himself another glass of scotch. Diana wondered for a moment if she should stop. She decided to let him drink passed tipsy.

“Evil or not, David is her brother. She wants to kill him….no matter what the intent that kind of act tends to turn even the strongest souls dark. You know this, Diana.”

            “I’ve seen it, yes.”

            “Do we really want, Ann— “

            “Stop, Bruce. Don’t say another word. Annie isn’t just the strongest soul. She’s powerful in mind as well. Annie isn’t capable of going dark. Not like that. She’d never betray humanity even though it has betrayed her repeatedly, brutally and without mercy. If that had been the case Annie wouldn’t have killed livestock as a child she would have taken the village and then there would have been nothing I could do for her. When I say that she’s good, I mean it.”

            “Okay, Mamma bear.”

            “Don’t.”

            “I’ll train her.”

            “No.”

            “You can offer counsel bu— “

            “No.”

            “Diana lis—“

            “No.”

            Bruce stood and eyed her silently with intensity she’d rarely seen in him except when he was the bat. This time this was her battle to lose. She let out a sigh and waved her hand dismissively allowing him to continue.

            “You’re her mother. You won’t go easy on her, but you won’t exactly push her to the max. I don’t doubt your effectiveness as a teacher, but you can’t possibly be effective with her. Not in this kind of training. So, you will offer counsel, but I will carry out Annie’s training.”

            Diana couldn’t find fault in his logic. He was right and she’d have to stand back and let him be as brutal as he needed to be. It was the only way to prepare Annie for this fight.

            “Alright. But you will make good on your word and let me stand as counsel.”

            “Of course.”

 

            Two hours had come and gone before Annie rejoined the waking world. Bruce watched as she slowly fought against the current in the deep sea of exhaustion. He knew without actual experience, that she would probably be in mountains of pain by the time she was fully conscious. He’d take care of that.

He drained his last glass of scotch for the day. He promised himself he’d end it there even though his body was already pleading for more. Maybe he was becoming an alcoholic. _Nah._ Alcoholics had no control over their lives and he had more control over his than the average human being. He was fine. But all the same he’d take it easy on the drink for now.

            It was another five minutes of groans and stretching before Annie sensed his presence. He watched with mild amusement as she tensed and sprang backwards to the farthest corner of the room. The woman was as lithe in her human—true form, as she was in her animal one. Awe clouded his mind and it took him a moment longer than necessary to speak. Despite the years having civilized her, he could see the wraith of the Russian wild in her movements. It was strangely beautiful.

            “Relax, scaredy cat,” the nickname was childish but too good to pass up. “Diana, wouldn’t have let me in here alone with you if I had any intention of hurting you.” She seemed to take offense in the name calling but it clearly wasn’t enough to ease the tension that was apparent in every inch of her body. Human she certainly was, but he could clearly see the cornered lioness in her now. He knew what needed to be done. He set his empty scotch glass down and retrieved a bottle of water from the ice bucket and slowly made his way towards her. All the while her eyes never left him. Those hard, blue eyes revealed unsurmountable knowledge of pain and he knew that he wouldn’t win her trust so easily. He’d take this slowly but not so slowly as to coddle her. He couldn’t have that.

            When he finally came into a crouch beside her, he handed her the chilled bottle of water and held out two Advil from the bottle in his pocket. He would have offered her three but he’d wait and see how she’d do with two. She reached out tentatively, her eyes still firmly locked on his. Her finger tips brushed his palm slowly as they closed around the pills. For a moment, just a moment, an odd temptation to take her hand and assure her that he wasn’t a threat washed over him. But he kept quiet and watched her watch him as she took the pills from his hand.

            Once she had them, she retreated to her corner again. She looked feral but he knew it was because she felt vulnerable. So, he fell back on his heels and pressed his back to the wall a few feet away, sliding into sitting position. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she took the medication. The water seemed to bring her some relief because she let out a slow, pleased sigh that caused his mouth to twitch upwards before he could stop it.

            Her blue green eyes landed on him only seconds after he managed to bring himself under control. There was still unease in her posture but her eyes betrayed how grateful she was seconds before she verbally confirmed it.

            “I know a little something about muscle ache. It gets worse with age.” Of course, he had no clue what it was like for her. He’d never gone through a full body transformation and he damn well hoped that he never had to. It looked painful.

            Annie only offered him a smile. He’d take it. He’d take all the ground he could get with her because he saw her potential now. He understood how she could be utilized in this fight. The only problem now is that he had to actually convince her to join this fight.

            “Oh, don’t I know it.” She remarked.

            “How about some lunch? And then, let’s go for a walk. I bet you can use a little fresh air right about now.” He knew that once he got her outside, he’d get her to relax. God, he hoped that he could get her to relax. They didn’t need another repeat of this morning. Looking at her now, he suspected that wouldn’t be an issue anyway. She was in control.

            She looked towards the wall length window and shook her head. “It’s raining.” She said as if that was really the issue. Bruce knew better. He’d been prepared for that argument as had Diana.

            “You love the rain,” He countered, grinning as he did so. “To quote Diana, ‘the rain energizes you, brings new life into your eyes and seems to free your soul even when you are in the sourest of moods. It brings you peace during sleepless nights and relaxation after the harshest of work days. The rain is your domain, your healer and your one true love.”

            Annie burst into giggles right then, her whole-body rocking with delight. “Damn, Diana has me pegged.”

            Bruce found pleasure in her laughter. It alarmed him that this woman was slowly seeping into him, making him feel things that he shouldn’t be feeling. But what scared him even more was that a little voice in his head, that sounded annoyingly like Alfred, insisted that, that wasn’t such a bad thing.

            He needed to get up. To move and push these thoughts back into the inky depths of his mind where they belonged; chained to a wall, locked up and burned. But he knew that Annie should be the first to stand. She was looking a little better, a little less pale and her eyes had softened just a bit from the fit of laughter she just engaged in; but, looks could be deceiving and he wasn’t about to push his luck.

            Beat, Annie finished the water and stood slowly. Overworked joints, popped in protest as she stood. A wince tightened her features briefly before she smiled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done that.”

            Bruce stood, snatching up the empty water bottle on his way up. “You’ll get used to it again.”

            “So, it’s been decided then?”

            Bruce stared at her for a beat before shaking his head decisively. “Nothing is decided without your consent.”

            “I want to regain control of myself. I want to be fast again. I want to dispose of David once and for all. It’s decided.” Annie responded without a second of hesitation. Fire, not tension burned in her eyes now. Once again Bruce stood in awe as he was given another glimpse of the beast within her.

            They walked in silence for nearly a mile, listening to the rhythmic patter of the rain on their hoods. Neither carried an umbrella. Annie wouldn’t hear of it. And Bruce wouldn’t be out done. He suspected that Annie would run naked in this downpour if given the chance. Before he could stop himself, he began to picture it. Annie, running wild and free in the woods. Rain hitting her creamy skin, and snaking trails down her neck, her spine, her breasts; reckless abandon lighting her eyes. Her mouth twisted in a hungry grin. Hell. Oh Hell. What was becoming of him?

            He fought it back as best as he could. Picturing the things that he feared most and soon he was under control again. A gentle tug on the sleeve of his rain coat made him realize that he had squeezed his eyes shut. He turned his head to look into Annie’s searching gaze. Curiosity burned there but he wasn’t about to tell her what lurked in his mind. Although it wouldn’t actually be so bad to see her lose her shit again. It had scared him at first but now he reveled in it.

            “Headache…I probably had a little too much to drink.” The over drinking was an understatement, but the headache was a lie. He was mostly impervious to hangovers unless he had a lot more than 5 glasses of scotch.

            Annie’s eyes took on a sly sparkle that threatened to make things worse for him. “I know. I smelled the scotch. I was just trying to be polite.”

            She might be able to taste it too if he’d give her a chance. _No!_ So much for control. He shrugged, smiled and walked on leading her to the trailhead of one of his favorite hikes.

            Annie stopped there and seemed to consider things. “You aren’t going to shoot me in those woods, are you?” She was clearly doing her best to hide her concern behind a mask of playfulness, but he could see it in her as clear as a southern California summer.

            He shook his head and started forward into the woods. “Bullets are for monsters.” He didn’t see the impact of his words on her, but he felt it, in the way she suddenly reached out and briefly squeezed his arm. There had been a slight tremble in her hand as she pulled back. He knew that if he turned around he’d see her eyes shine with tears. So, he didn’t turn around; simultaneously giving her privacy and preventing him from doing something incredibly reckless and stupid.

            They didn’t speak again until they were deep in the woods. He was too busy enjoying Annie’s enjoyment, of the rain and the nature they were walking in. Diana was right. She did perk up in the rain. The woods seemed to add to the lift in her mood. Once again, his imagination began to play, and he moved to squash that with an iron shovel.

            “Your training starts tomorrow.” He informed her, his voice tumbling out hoarse. He cleared it quickly hoping she hadn’t noticed.

            Annie raised an eyebrow. She’d noticed. “Does that concern you?”

            “No.” _What concerns me is that I can’t stop picturing you naked._   “What concerns me is that you might not be truly ready for all that this entails.”

            “You know I am.”

            He did know. But for the sake of transparency he needed to warn her of what was to be done. “I’m not going to break you, Annie. But I intend to come close.”

            Annie cast him in a solemn gaze. He wondered briefly if she knew that he was suddenly questioning his game plan.  “I can take it. You do what you have to do.”

            _Yes, but would she forgive me?_  He wondered darkly. _Why is that even a question? It’s not important. What’s important is that she has control._

            They walked in silence for the remainder of the hike. For once Bruce enjoyed the time outside and Annie seemed to feel the same way. But something troubled him, and it wasn’t the rampant lust or the upcoming training. What bothered him was the relative silence from David since the farm accident. If he was really out to get Annie shouldn’t he have tried again? It would be stupid to assume that he didn’t trail them back to Gotham; to this property. He could be and should be following them on this hike.

            He listened to the woods around him, but didn’t pause. All around them pitch, red and eastern white pine stood tall taking the rain as they had for thousands of years. Maple leaves in their autumnal colors brushed against each other at the slightest breeze and birds called out to each other, broken up by the occasional chatter of squirrels. The forest was decidedly too alive for a predator like David to be around. Woodland inhabitants had a way of sensing real danger, that was something Bruce could appreciate.

            After nearly two hours when they’d found their way back out of the woods, Annie seemed to be renewed. While Bruce could still feel haunted emotions still swirling inside her she seemed better equipped to handle them. When they had tumbled Charles into that acid lake he couldn’t be too sure. When he had heard her screams in the night and seen her walk back to her room with shears he had thought that maybe he had gone too far. He had definitely believed it this morning in the foyer. But things were now turning for him. This was the Annie he had met that first morning. She was going to be fine.

            Annie turned and smiled at him as if she could read his thoughts. “Thanks for bringing me out here.”

            “You looked like you needed it.” He said with a nod before adding, “you look much more relaxed now.”

            Annie puffed up her cheeks and let out the air forcefully; laughing happily as she did so. “Yeah, I was pretty wound up in there.”

            That was an understatement, but he wasn’t going to call her on it. “Feel free to come out here any time, just you know…if you want to be alone let me know so I can stay within your one-mile radius.”

            Annie winced as if she’d suddenly remembered the implications of keeping her distance from him. “No problem.”

            “I don’t think he’s here though.” Bruce assured her in a desperate bid to gain back some ground. “He’d have made a play on us in the woods.”

            “He’d have done a lot worse than that.” Annie retorted darkly.

            Bruce nodded and turned his eyes back to the woods. He wondered if he could take her back in there and restart this whole conversation.

            Annie slapped his arm lightly and grinned. “Hey, can we drop in on the horses before we head inside? I just want to see how Badger is settling in…and maybe I can sneak a peek at Nico...I uh hear you were able to groom him.”

            He was able to groom him and work away the thoroughbred’s knotted muscles. It had taken a few hours to achieve this, but he had seen the willingness in the horse’s eyes and he, had time to spend. “Sure, I’ll distract him, so you can get more than a peek.”

            Annie’s eyes lit up and she clapped her eyes together in excitement before turning sheepish. “Thanks, Bruce. I know y. ou said you didn’t have time to do this, but I appreciate it.” To his surprise she leaned in and pressed the most disappointingly friendly kiss to his cheek. When she pulled away, she smiled in a way that nearly made him draw her back to him. Again, he restrained himself knowing that he couldn’t cross that line.

            Annie turned gracefully on her heel and led the way toward the makeshift barn. She had a light almost, skipping step that betrayed just how happy she was. Again his mind began to travel and he had to grab onto those thoughts tightly. He couldn’t do this. Annie was not someone who he could pursue. _Why?_ That voice that sounded like Alfred inquired. _Because Diana would slaughter me._

            “Hey, I know my ass looks great in these jeans…but…” Annie called from where she stood, hands on her hips but a grin on her face.

            Oops. He hadn’t been staring per se, but he had been caught in his own thoughts which was, in his opinion, twice as reckless. “Your ass doesn’t look great, it looks absolutely stunning.” He quipped even though he knew that he shouldn’t have. The red that entered her cheeks and the sudden speechlessness had all been worth it though. _Oh, hell!_ He was going to be at Diana’s mercy sure enough.

 

            Nico had undergone a transformation in the last twenty-four hours that would put any of Annie’s transformations to shame. His black coat glistened like fresh ink, his eyes were soft and friendly and he played with Bruce as if the horse had never been hurt by anyone.

            Annie watched from Badger’s stall as Nico nuzzled Bruce’s chest in an attempt to get another bite of carrot. Bruce for his part, played hard to get for a bit before he gave in. The horse munched loudly, never taking his eyes off of Bruce as he waited for the next task.

            Even though she was jealous of the rapport that Bruce had struck with the stallion, she also found herself pleased to see the improvement. Also, to her deep concern, she was beginning to see the billionaire playboy in a whole new light. He had a soft side. It wasn’t just with Nico, but with her, too. She hadn’t expected it. She had expected him to hit on her in order to manipulate her into fighting in his war. But he hadn’t. Sure, he had been momentarily flirtatious on the way to the barn and she hadn’t missed the look of hunger that briefly flashed in his eyes occasionally as they hiked. But that had only been a recent development and she sensed that it wasn’t an act. She wouldn’t encourage it, but she knew it was sincere.

            When Bruce had Nico turned away, Annie exited Badger’s stall. With one final pat to the chestnut’s neck she hastily exited the barn and waited for Bruce to join her.

            When he came out he regarded her with a warm smile. “What do you think?”

            “He looks amazing.”

            Bruce nodded, “honestly I wasn’t expecting much from him. But he’s willing.”

            “So long as I’m not around.” Annie replied ruefully. She knew the stallion saw her as a threat. She knew exactly why, too. She hadn’t been entirely honest with Bruce when she told him Nico’s story and she wasn’t sure that she ever could be.

            “Hey, he just needed a change of scenery. He will come around.” Bruce assured her as he slowly reached out and squeezed her shoulder gently. His tone and his touch made her feel a bit better. But nothing could lighten the darkness that dwelled within her. She needed to be a little bit more careful about not letting Bruce come close enough to see that darkness.

            She gave him a curt nod and moved away from his touch as quickly as she could without being rude. She wanted to keep Bruce at length, not push him away entirely. “How about we go inside, dry off and get some coffee. It’s freezing!”

            An unreadable look entered Bruce’s eyes before he nodded. “Alright.” He turned from her and led the way to the house.

            Annie sucked in a deep breath. “Thanks, Bruce. So, we’ll start training tomorrow?”

            “Absolutely.”

 

           

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Merry Christmas everyone! I hope this chapter finds everyone well.**   
  


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            “Shit!”

            Annie let out a high-pitched squeak as pain shot through her tiny body. Upon sight of her next form, Bruce had reacted by slamming his fist right to her center; sending her spiraling into the ground. Despite the pain she couldn’t help but feel some satisfaction that she had gotten the jump out of Bruce Wayne. As unfair as it was to get her information from Diana, it was her that she had to thank for the tip.

            As her body slid along the ground, delicate wing membranes ripping and skin tearing she began the transformation back into her human form. By the time she crashed into one of the titanium support pillars she was once again herself. The months of training had paid off. The pain of the transformations now amounted to a bee sting. And she had the whole process down to seconds. Moreover, she could go from one form to the next without first reverting back to her human self; something she had been unable to do even before this. Even though she knew that she had always been strong, Annie couldn’t ignore the exhilarating feeling that she was even stronger now. Maybe she could beat David and maybe, just maybe she wouldn’t lose her life doing it.

            She went from laying on her side and into a crouch, a position where she watched Bruce’s approach with a mixture of glee and pride. “Afraid of bats, huh?” She remarked, not able to contain her grin even though her stomach felt as if it had been shredded by the attack. A bat hadn’t exactly been the smartest choice as the smaller form meant more damage from even pulled punches—even though Bruce’s punch had been anything but. The pain would pass, though, and any damage he might have done would be healed up shortly. She would likely have to skip breakfast though.

            Bruce rolled his eyes and grabbed Annie’s robe from where it lay folded neatly on the table. Upon approaching her, he helped her to her feet and held open the robe so that she could slide her arms through. The gesture was something she always looked forward to, not just because the robe was so soft it was almost therapeutic to her skin, but because of the way Bruce looked at her—or tried not to look at her. Despite his best efforts he couldn’t quite hide his hunger from her.

She felt the dangerously unrelenting, thirst too, but she was sure that she was doing a better job at holding it back. She was all too certain that if she gave Bruce any inkling of her feelings, he would give in to his desires and everything would be lost. That’s why she was especially careful with him. It’s not that she wouldn’t mind a romantic interlude with the man. She wanted that _desperately_ ; but, she knew the dangers of pursuing such a relationship. Bruce had a cause that he fought for with unflappable passion. Annie, despite the compassion she had for the world around her, didn’t have a cause to fight for— _anymore_. Now all she wanted was to hide under a rock. It’s what she had been doing before Bruce had come to get her. She had no problem admitting that to herself. She loved the safe harbor that Sugar Pine Ranch had provided her. The small community that she lived in kept her busy with clients but also full of the sense of belonging.

Once this whole thing was over; and one way or another it would soon be over, she knew, that if she survived, she’d go back to her hamlet and rebuild. There was no use in pursuing something she was just going to leave. She wasn’t that kind of woman. She’d seen and done too much in her life to be that way. Even if she could put all that behind her. Even if she could forget the stark differences between herself and Bruce, she knew that she still wouldn’t continue to be in Bruce’s life for the simple reason that she had a responsibility to protect what little of herself that was still intact.

From the age of four years old the universe had continuously shattered her in profound and inexplicable ways and always, she had risen and put herself back together. But the repair was always haphazard at best. There was always a piece missing and as always, she would try her best to fill the hole, that had been created, to no avail. Every break meant more holes and the more holes she had the closer she was to the end of herself; something, the demons of her past, had strived to create.

Bruce Wayne was just another way for the universe to break her. One of the things she had learned, and tried to rebel against, during the past few months that they’d been working together, that the end of Annie would come if the universe took Bruce. Sure, she’d survive. She wasn’t a quitter by any measure, but she couldn’t ignore the knowledge that she was already becoming embittered. Monsters had planted the seed of doubt that good guys couldn’t win, and it had begun to sprout but had thus far never grew further than a seedling. But Bruce, Bruce was such a good man. He was neither gifted nor cursed with special abilities. Instead he uses a mixture of brawn, wit, intellect and his bank account to ward off evil. And all for the sake of a city full of people who would rather look the other way in the face of injustice and corruption. But, one way or another this calling was going to kill him, and Annie couldn’t be around when it did. If she didn’t know he was taken than she would be safe. Which is why, as soon as she was done with David she was cutting ties with Bruce and with Diana.

            “Diana needs to mind her own business.” Bruce grumbled under his breath, that breath felt warm and comforting on her neck and for just a moment she allowed herself to be lolled into ease by it. But only a moment. When she was done allowing herself the forbidden luxury, she turned around to face him. She almost laughed at the annoyance on his face.

            “Can you blame her?” Annie reached over and brushed the dusty pawprints from his chest. They had gotten there when she had tackled him as a jaguar right before she had done a quick change to a bat. “You’re kind of roughing me up on a daily basis.”

            Annie hadn’t really considered her words to be lascivious in nature, but then Bruce raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side. The predatory gleam was back in his eyes. The electricity between them made her take a step back as she tried to figure out how to rescue the situation from serious, irreparable damage.

She stood up taller, met his eyes and held her mouth in a firm line. Carefully twitching the corner of her mouth into a mocking smile. “Besides, I like knowing that you fear something. I think it’s pretty badass that you’ve chosen to wear your childhood fear as your cloak.”

            The words took effect quickly. The hunger vanished from his hazel eyes and was replaced by sheepish contempt. Annie couldn’t help but feel a little relief at that. She didn’t know what she’d do if he’d tossed even the slightest innuendo back at her. She didn’t want to find out.

            “And, what is it that you fear, _Miss_ Trevelyan?”

            Playfulness softened his features and Annie’s smile became less forced. “I fear what I will do to anyone who forgets to call me ‘Doctor’; I worked hard for that title.” She kept her tone light and her smile easy. The use of the wrong title didn’t bother her so much, not from Bruce at least. Over the past few months they had developed an easy relationship and she’d grown to trust and respect him and he seemed to be doing the same; with only the _occasional_ departure.

            “I understand that.” His smile held as his eyes bore into hers searching, waiting for her to honestly answer his question. It didn’t appear that he would let her off the hook this time. He had no reason to.

            Which is why, Annie acquiesced but not without a long-suffering sigh to make her displeasure clear. “Right now? I’m afraid of what I’ll do if Luthor doesn’t turn up soon.” Actually, in truth, she knew what she’d do. She’d go rogue and search him out herself. She knew that, that was probably what Luthor wanted her to do; cold, calculating, scumbag that he was, but she’d be careful about it.

            “We’ll find him, Annie. And David, too.”

            Annie felt about as reassured as a rabbit in a wolf’s den.

            Bruce must have read her uncertainty because his eyes softened, and he reached out to squeeze her shoulder, before playfully turning his fingers to her short hair, further mussing up the already disheveled mess. She ducked under his hand and punched him in the gut, knowing that he was silently changing the direction of the conversation, and appreciating that he was.

            “Oof!” Bruce groaned and grabbed his middle. “That’s cold, Annie.”

            “I’m a staunch practitioner of that particular art.”

            “Yeah, I know.” He agreed as he brought himself back to straightened posture. “I’ve been meaning to ask; you knew how to fight before we started these training sessions.” He observed. “How’d you get to be so refined? I know Diana taught you, but your level of skill goes beyond that. You’ve got a collection in your arsenal that isn’t taught by conventional means…. it’s learned…from the streets.”

            He knew. He had to know. No one could make that jump so easily. Or maybe he could, because he had the experience. It didn’t matter what he knew or didn’t know; however, because she realized that he was waiting for her to tell it.

            _Damn it, Bruce._ She turned her back on him, cinched her robe tight and walked to the leather office chair that she had claimed from the first visit to the ‘basement’. He took the one beside her, turning to face her.

            Under his intense, examination she found that she was suddenly anxious. She wanted to keep this story locked up with the others, but she knew that now that Bruce had her here, she wouldn’t get away with it.

            “Ready for a long story?” Annoyance fattened her tone and she did little to curb it.

            The smile that played on Bruce’s lips softened her mood however. “Wouldn’t be the first long story I’ve sat through.”

            “Jackass.”

            Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose . “Annie.”  He said sternly. She tried not to be offended that he was treating her like a dog.

            “Patience is a virtue, Mr. Wayne.” She responded coyly.

            “I apologize, doctor.” His sarcastic remark almost drew a giggle from her. Almost.

            “Alright, alright.” Annie took a deep breath, sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. She didn’t shut her eyes to try and connect with her story, but to escape the dissecting gaze of the man who sat beside her. It was too much for her.

            “I attended my undergrad in Alton, California. Alton is a small Northern California town with a big city crime feel.” She explained setting the scene and wriggling uncomfortably at the feel of his gaze. “That town is poison and I’m not even sure why I chose Cal State Alton. Actually, that’s a bit of a lie. I take that back. I do know. The school had an unbeatable pre-vet program and despite the shit pit that the town was, the school was a sanctuary and you were safe so long as you stayed within its boundaries…which is why on campus housing was always in such high demand. I was lucky to have had housing until graduation. But my Freshman year at Alton almost drove me back to Diana and the school she had wanted me to attend.”

            Annie grazed the plush robe with her fingers. It was comforting to her; like running your fingers through the fur of a teddy guinea pig. She missed Frost, her nonhuman college roommate. His death to cancer had left her reeling for a while, maybe because they had been through so much together.

            “My first semester I had the best roommates, Coraline Davis and our guinea pigs Frost and Dorian.” She couldn’t stop the red from creeping into her cheeks as she admitted her affection for the pigs. Bruce’s chuckle didn’t help matters. She ran her fingers through her short hair, a dangerous habit that sold out her self-consciousness without fail.

            “The first half of that semester was magical. I had gotten a job with the school as one of the animal care takers in charge of the lab and farm animals. I was making straight A’s, the campus was surrounded by Redwoods, and every day was an unpredictable adventure. I used to love to hike the trails on the school’s wooded land. I’d bring my camera and photograph everything. I mean every time I went out, there was always something new: banana slugs, playful squirrels, nesting eagles, all kinds of beautiful fungi. God, I loved it, Bruce. I loved it so much.” She could still smell her redwoods; the spicy scent mixed with moist soil and salt from the coast 5 miles away.

            To her horror warmth began to crawl down her cheeks. She had begun to cry before she had realized that her chest was so tight with emotion that it might burst. She raised her hand to wipe at her tears, keeping her eyes firmly shut in case more should fall. But it was Bruce’s hand that took on the tears. With one hand he stalled the hand that she had raised, keeping it firmly in his grasp. With his other hand he gently wiped at the tears and soon her tears and his tender touch were gone. He squeezed her hand before he let go, but said nothing, giving her the moment to compose herself and keep some dignity.

            She didn’t thank him. Instead she proceeded in a poor effort to shroud her embarrassment. “One day, Cora and I took our bikes out on the trail. We had decided, rather stupidly, that we would go beyond the school trails. There was more forest to explore, more beauty to find and like a bunch of feckless fools we thought we’d find it.

About three hours deep, we stumbled onto a drug operation. I’m not even sure what it was; pot, cocaine, meth, I don’t know…. they didn’t just have greenhouses, but labs too.” When we realized where we were we tried to turn back but by then we had been spotted. Bullets came at us from all sides. One bullet hit Cora so hard that she was flung right off her bike a good 50 yards away…I swear it. And the damage…oh God…s-she was unrecognizable…. the human version of ground beef. It had to have been one hell of a gun to have taken her out like that.” Annie took a deep breath and fought against the spill of emotions once again. “I’d nearly morphed then but it was fear, not rage that would have drove me to it and fear wasn’t powerful enough to force that change. I’d been fighting it for so long that I’d become too good at staying me, even though my survival depended on me becoming something else.  So, I ran…ran as hard as I could until the fear burned away, and the images started to eat at my sanity. Finally rage took hold and I had enough in me. I turned into a falcon and flew out of the woods. I was back with the cops at that spot within two hours…but the bastards had lit their entire operation on fire. Any evidence that could lead to their capture was destroyed but they did find drugs…and they found Cora’s corpse…. I was the one waiting for her parents at the morgue.”

 

            Annie paused in her story, took a deep shaky breath and continued. “I had no choice but to dive right back into my studies after that and I continued my work in the lab and on the farm. The killers hadn’t been caught and they never would be. I knew this, and it drove me into a kind of fervor. I knew that I probably wouldn’t find the killers, but I also knew that Alton was sick. And if Alton’s disease continued to progress, more of those monsters would be allowed to flourish. More monsters meant more Coralines and more parents like Coraline’s. So, I started going to the gym. I started really practicing Diana’s self-defense teachings. I joined a dojo and excelled. By June I was on the streets beating the shit out of any thug I could get my hands on.”

            Annie opened her eyes and met Bruce’s shocked hazels. “Yeah, yeah I know. I was a danger chaser too. My uniform was that of a medieval plague doctor.”

             Annie ignored Bruce’s smirk. She knew it was silly, but she also didn’t care. He dressed like a bat. “I was obsessed with historic diseases, especially the plague. I worked with rats and other rodents. I just thought it was fitting. Plus, I already had a plague doctor mask…I had been one for Halloween. So that’s what I did for the remaining 3 years or so at Alton. But I got into vet school at Cornell, so I left. It was no big deal. Alton was—is a plague and I thought I could heal it, but there’s no healing Alton.” Annie stared intently at Bruce as she prepared her next words, “just as there is no healing Gotham.”

            Bruce sighed and sat back. “I’m sorry about your roommate.” His jaw tightened for a moment. “And I can understand why you aren’t a fan of my cause—”

            “Asinine crusade…” Annie corrected, “and I say that with welting knowledge of my own stupidity and failure.”

            “Asinine as it may be, I still believe in it. You weren’t born in Alton. Alton was never your home. To you, the town was just a stepping stone to bigger things and when you got those bigger things, you had no problem leaving it.”

            Annie wasn’t sure why, but his words stung awfully.

            “I was born in Gotham. Gotham will always be in my blood no matter where I go. So, I have to protect it.”

            “Even if it costs you your life?”

            “Gotham stole the lives of my parents and orphaned countless other children. Gotham won’t take my life until I’ve made it safe.” 

            Annie knew that it didn’t work like that. It didn’t matter how stubborn and stolid Bruce was in his mission, he couldn’t decide when the cold hand of death came for him no more than she could. But she guessed that he knew that, so she didn’t dare say it out loud. She envied his devotion to his city. She wished that she had roots like that. But hers had been taken from her a long time ago. She had no sense of home, anywhere. Just when she had finally begun to feel it crawling inside her soul, David burned it all to the ground. Maybe that’s why Bruce’s words hurt so much. No maybes…she knew that was the cause.

            “Why such a tiny bat?”

            Annie looked up at Bruce perplexed, “huh?” Such a random subject change but she realized that’s what it had been, another subject change; a diversion from the heavy, either because he didn’t want to think about his mortality or he wanted to steer her away from hers, or both.

            “You transitioned into a puny bat earlier…other than throwing me off, what did you think you’d accomplish? You wouldn’t have brought me down with that.”

            Sincerely amused by the question and the memory it produced, Annie laughed aloud, her first full bodied laugh in a long time. “The silver haired bat is one of my favorites, next to the Mexican Free tailed bat, of course. They’re solitary creatures and to be quite honest, they are just adorable.”

            Bruce rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I didn’t see anything remotely cute about _that_. In any case, I took you for a flying fox kind of woman.”

            Annie snorted. “As much as I love bats…. I can’t look at a flying fox, let alone morph into one. Long story short Diana and I were camping in the Australian bush once, when I was a kid, and she told this scary story about goblins that I didn’t think bothered me that much. I found out just how much it got to me when in the middle of the night, I was on my way to the nearest bush to relieve myself, and I saw this humongous thing hanging in a tree. I think I screamed so loud that I woke up the entire continent. It certainly scared the bat right to me. Diana still won’t let me live that down and I still see that freakin’ bat in my nightmares.”

 

            Bruce bit his lower lip, but unable to stop his laughter he let it roll. “That is quite possibly the most entertaining thing I’ve heard in a while.” He laughed some more, and Annie was unable to stop her own. Laughter during these stressful times was just too necessary to fight.

            “I hate to spoil the fun…” Alfred’s voice broke in. There was a slight edge to his tone that instantly brought them both to grim silence.

            Bruce stood slowly, Annie remained glued to her chair, determined to ride out this bit of bad news in the comforts of the cushy leather and the warmth of her robe.

            “There’s been an incident at Wayne Academy.”

            Bruce visibly blanched and instinctively Annie reached out to take his hand. She knew the center which Alfred was talking about. Bruce had taken her down there a few times. It was a private school that Bruce had set up for orphans and troubled children K-12. It was a school with a high success rate almost all of Wayne’s graduates went to college. The school was making a huge difference and the curriculum was being replicated in other academies across the United States. Annie knew from the way that he spoke of the school and its students that Bruce held it up with his highest achievements if it wasn’t his highest achievement.

            “What happened, Alfred?”

            Alfred’s stoicism crumbled frightfully quickly. Disgust and horror were there in equal measure and Annie squeezed Bruce’s hand just a bit tighter. “One of the students has murdered thirty or so children…there are…there are…still a dozen missing, sir.”

 

 


End file.
